Journal of Bacteriology & Parasitology

Comparison of light microscopy and nested PCR assay in detecting of Plasmodium species in symptomatic malaria patients in an endemic area of Iran

International Conference on Parasitology

August 24-26, 2015 Philadelphia, USA

Aliehsan Heidari1, Manizheh Nourian2 and Hossein Keshavarz3

1Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Iran 2Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Iran 3Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Bacteriol Parasitol

Abstract:

Introduction: Despite substantial decrease of malaria prevalence in Iran in recent years, Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum species still cause symptomatic malaria infection in southeast of the country. The aim of this study was to detect mixed species malaria infections by microscopy and nested PCR in an endemic area of Iran. Materials and Methods: The microscopic examination of thick and thin blood films was applied to P. vivax infection. The nested PCR was carried out using the Plasmodium 18 sub-unit ribosomal ribonucleic (Ssr RNA) genes to detect the mixed species infections and to identify the malaria parasites in the blood samples. A total of 160 subjects with symptomatic malaria infections participated in the study. The blood smears were stained with 3% Giemsa and examined microscopically by two blind independent experts in microscopy. Results: Parasitemia ranged from 120 to 10,000 parasites per μl of blood with mean 9500 p/μl. In total, 1.88% and 11.25% of patients indicated mixed-species infections in microscopy and nested PCR, respectively. The sensitivity of light microscopy for detection of mixed-species malaria infections was 16.6% (95% CI 3-49.1). There was a significant difference between sensitivity of microscopy and nested PCR in identifying mixed-species malaria infections (P=0.0009). Conclusion: Our findings show that nested PCR assay can facilitate the better diagnosis of mixed-species infections and the correct treatment of malaria patients especially in regions where prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum resistant to chloroquine is high. It is also concluded that mixedspecies infection is almost common in the region where both species coexist and their detection is only based on traditional microscopy that may underestimate their importance.

Biography :

Aliehsan Heidari is Associate Professor and head of the department of Medical Parasitology in the faculty Medicine, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran. He received Ph.D. degree of Medical Parasitology at the School of Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran in in 2005. He spent 6 months complementary research at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Berlin, Germany and defended his thesis “Genetic Diversity in the Merozoite Surface Protein (MSP)- 1, MSP-2 and Circumsporozoite protein Genes of Plasmodium falciparum in Sistan and Baluchistan of Iran”.

Email: aliehsan2001@yahoo.com